The Fairness Of Children's Allocation To Inner And Outer Groups With Unequal Resources And The Role Of Theory Of Mind

Distributive justice mainly discusses how to balance the needs of individuals and groups,what is fair distribution and how to distribute fairly,which is one of the important aspects of children's moral development.Distributive justice includes equality,equity and need(Deutsch,1975).With age,individuals are more able to consider each principle comprehensively.However,the development of distributive justice is very complex and affected by many factors,such as social relations,resource inequality,emotion,theory of mind and so on.Group identity as an important social relation,children show in-group bias for individuals with the same group identity,but when there is resource inequality among groups,how to solve the resource gap between different groups?it is not only a situation that children often face,experience and learn,but also a necessary process for children's concept of fairness to develop and mature.Theory of Mind(ToM),as the ability of understands oneself and others perception,emotion,desire and belief,is the basis of social cognitive in allocated game.With the development of theory of mind,children may pay more attention to the opinions,desires and feelings of others,thus more concerned about the welfare of others.It is through the judgment of the needs,intentions and emotions of others,combined with children's pursuit and abandonment of their own interests,that children are prompted to make decisions related to the fairness of distribution.However,less is known about the relation about theory of mind and resource allocation among young children,and the psychological mechanism of resource allocation in a context of inequality is still unclear.Based on this,through two experiments,we discussed how children(aged 4?6 years old children)were influenced by in-group bias and fairness principle,what kind of role does theory of mind play in it.Experiment 1 In the context of social inequality between in-group and out-group,using two-factor experimental design,3(Recipient:in-group,out-group1,or out-group2)×3(Items:need items,non-requirement items,or non-need personal items).The depend variable is the percentage of children allocated to different groups.This experiment was based on the need to investigate whether 4-6-year-olds children rectify social inequality in a resource allocation task.Results show that:when the resources are needed,4-6-year-olds child are allocated the resources to groups with needs,while children showed in-group favoritism when the items are not needed.And children with resources will also pay attention to the welfare of groups without resources.Experiment 2 In the context of social inequality between in-group and out-group,using four-factor experimental design,3(Recipient:in-group,out-group1,or out-group2)×2(Inequality:advantageous or disadvantageous)×2(Cost:cost or no-cost)×2(ToM:pass or not pass).The dependent variable is the number of people who make a fair choice in four unequal situations.The purpose of this experiment is to examine the influence of in-and out-groups and theory of mind on children's equal choice in AI and DI situations.The results show that:(1)In AI situations,the children with resources are more willing to choose equal distribution to the in-group and the non-resource out-group,while the children without resources are more likely to choose equal distribution to the in-group.Compare with cost trials,children will choose more equal distribution in no-cost trials.(2)In DI situations,children will pursue the maximization of their own interests under the cost trials,and children will show altruism under the no-cost trials.In AI No-cost situations,theory of mind has a significant influence on the equal distribution of children.The current research mainly following conclusions:(1)When the resources are needed,children are allocated the resources to groups with needs,while children showed in-group favoritism when the items are not needed.And children with resources will also pay attention to the welfare of groups without resources.(2)In AI situations,the children with resources are more willing to choose equal distribution to the in-group and the non-resource out-group,while the children without resources are more likely to choose equal distribution to the in-group.Compare with cost trials,children will choose more equal distribution in no-cost trials.In DI situations,children will pursue the maximization of their own interests under the cost trials,and children will show altruism under the no-cost trials.(3)Young children need a lot of social cognitive ability to balance many motivations when making decisions.Theory of mind is one of the important factors that affect the fairness of children's distribution.